


Driving With The Windows Down

by ironfamjam



Series: Irondad Bingo [11]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Comedy, Fluff, Gen, Just a fun ridiculous little piece, Just our faves having fun exploring a weird state, Roadtrip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 16:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20118262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironfamjam/pseuds/ironfamjam
Summary: 1. Peter hates road trips2. Who the hell wants to be inTexas??3. The flight gets canceled4. Like, for real canceled5. Like, no flights till the next night canceled6. Peterreallyhates road tripsSomehow, Tony convinces him into one anyway.Irondad Bingo Prompt: RoadtripTumblr prompt: "It's a Texas thing."





	Driving With The Windows Down

**Author's Note:**

> If someone told me I'd ever write a Texas centred fic I would've laughed in their face but h e r e w e a r e.
> 
> Anyway, I spent like, an hour researching about weird Texas quirks so hopefully this isn't entirely inaccurate!

“Okay, well this is just great.” Tony throws his hands up in the air, glaring at the offending screen.

FLIGHT A753 TO: DFW DALLAS FROM: SAT SAN ANTONIO CANCELED. 

Peter frowns, twisting around to find an attendant serving a coffee to a nearby customer in the first class lounge they’re currently stuck in. “Um! Excuse me!” he calls, running over to her.

She looks up, smiles. “How can I help you?”

“Uhh, the screen thing over there said our flight was canceled and I was wondering if there was another one we could catch?” 

The woman frowns, “Let me go check with my colleagues.”

She returns a few minutes later with regretful eyes, “I’m sorry, it seems that this connecting flight has been canceled until tomorrow evening. Can we connect you somewhere else?”

Peter turns to look at Tony, who’s typing furiously into his phone. “Uhh, I doubt it. But thank you Miss! Sorry to waste your time.” 

He races back to his mentor who suddenly looks up wearing that expression Peter _knows_ means he’s up to no good forming on his face. “Pete,” he announces, “we’re going on a road trip.” 

Peter gawks. “A _what?_” 

Tony claps him over the shoulders, drawing him in closer as he leads them down the hallway going to the exit. “Think about it like a bonding experience. You love road trips.” he says with enough confidence that has Peter partway through a nod before he stops. 

“I’ve never even _been_ on a road trip.” 

Tony doesn’t seem concerned about that trivial detail at all. 

Oh God. Peter really doesn’t wanna do this. Who likes road trips?? He can’t be cramped in that tiny space for hours he just can’t oh God. And what if he and Tony run out of things to talk about?? Or what if- he gasps- what if he he falls _asleep??_ Isn’t that the worst thing you could do on a road trip?? What if he fell asleep and then Tony got bored and then he fell asleep and then they _crashed_ and then May and Pepper would just yell and- Peter rubs at his forehead. 

Stupid plane and their stupid malfunctions. 

Tony claps him on the arm, jolting him from his pity party, “Come on kid, it’ll be fun.” 

Peter doesn’t look convinced. “Do we have to? Why can’t we just-” he waves his hand around aimlessly, “wait or something.”

“Uhh, are you forgetting the giant clean energy conference tomorrow? The one I’m theoretically supposed to open?” 

Peter groans, “That never stopped you before!!” 

“Hey.” Tony says, affronted, “I’m trying to be a better man. You’re supposed to be supportive you know.”

Peter crosses his arms, “You’re emotionally manipulating me and I don’t like it.” 

Tony grins looking entirely unapologetic. “But it’s working.” 

Peter sighs some more- with extra flair- arm limp as Tony drags him down to the car rental booth. “Come on, I’ll even let you pick.” Tony says as a peace offering, wagging his eye brows up and down until Peter can’t help but snort.

“Fine.” he crosses his arms, “But I’m getting something ridiculous.” 

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.” Tony says solemnly. 

Tony sputters when the attendant brings out the car. Beside him, Peter’s grinning from ear to ear. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” he turns to Peter, mortally offended, “When I said get something ridiculous, I meant a neon green Audi, not,” he chokes, “_this_.” 

Peter bursts into laughter. “Isn’t she a beaut? Only the best for the best Mr. Stark.” he declares as innocently as possible.

The attendant hands Tony the keys and he pinches them as though they were something filthy. “This is a great choice.” the attendant praises, “Wide interior, great mileage. Definitely a good road trip car.” 

Peter smiles more, patting the hood, “Hear that Mr. Stark? It’s a great road trip car. The best apparently.” he waves his phone around where Tony can still see his Google search taunting him.

“It’s a _Honda_.” Tony protests, sounding strangled.

Peter is indifferent. 

“Exactly. It’s a family car.” 

Peter catches Tony’s eye, a devilish glint hiding behind his innocent façade, “I just thought it would be nice to get the real family road trip experience…unless you wanted to just wait for another flight?” 

He smiles. 

Tony glares. “You are a bad child. A bad, bad, child.” 

Peter makes a heart with his hands. 

“Okay, we have five hours and fifteen minutes.” Peter announces, hooking up Tony’s phone to the handy clasp. 

“Great. Wonderful. Can’t wait.” Tony says drily.

Peter shrugs, “Hey Mr. Stark, I’m just along for the ride.”

“Just play something good kid.” 

That at least, Peter can do. He connects to his phone’s Bluetooth, and their familiar lab jams blast from the speakers. The weather’s nice out, so Tony drives with the windows down and the top up and the scenery blends around them as they get onto the interstate. And alright, fine, maybe there was something to be said about the giddy anticipation in his stomach as the wind flipped through his hair and he could see Tony nodding his head to the beat beside him. 

The only bothersome thing is the sunlight going right in his eye. Peter pulls down the visor, but even that isn’t enough. He sits up straighter, trying to avoid it, when Tony throws his arm behind him patting the back of his seat like he was looking for something. When he fails, he retracts his arm, poking Peter in the cheek. “Kid, bring up my laptop bag.” 

Dutifully, Peter twists around, lurching forward a little to grab the leather bag. He looks at Tony expectantly but Tony ignores his silent question and just unzips it one-handed. He fumbles inside it for a second before pulling out a maroon case. He holds it out to Peter, an easy smile on his face. “For the child.” 

Peter looks confused before he opens it to find a pair of coloured sun-glasses inside them. “Oh sick!” 

He jams them on his face, sliding the mirror open to check himself out. “They’re so cool! Thanks Mr. Stark!” 

“Well I didn’t want two Daredevils. It cramps the other guy’s style.” 

“Hah hah, very funny.” 

Tony takes a second to glance at him. If it was possible, Peter thinks his smile almost grows a little fonder, “They suit you kid. You should keep ‘em.”

Peter ducks his head to hide how pleased he was, finger caressing the curve of the glasses. “No, it’s totally cool Mr. Stark, you don’t have to.”

“And yet I did.” 

And before Peter can protest, Tony’s scrunching his nose, staring out the window in confusion, “What the hell is going on?”

Scattered across the sides of the highway are dozens of couples and their kids and even some teens milling about, sprawled on the grass snapping photo after photo. Peter doesn’t understand why until he actually looks. Poking up from the tall grass are hundreds and hundreds of bluebonnets, waving in the breeze. “Woah.” Peter breathes.

It’s breath-taking, the blue dots the green in a gorgeous colour array that glows all the brighter with the sun. Peter’s never seen a high way that wasn’t cornered on all sides by more concrete and rock, but there’s something almost whimsical about this stretch of earth. Something pretty. 

And the Texans seem to agree, what with their flocking towards them. 

Peter watches as a mom lifts her baby daughter in the air as the father takes what Peter thinks would be a super cute photo. Unable to help himself, Peter raises his phone to take his own photo of the crowd amongst the flowers. 

Tony glances at him, “Jealous?”

“What?” Peter sputters, “_No_. What’re you even saying?”

But Tony’s already signalling left, drawing them closer to the fields until he’s parked in the shoulder, turning the car off. “Mr. Stark what are we doing??” 

“Taking a photo. What does it look like?” he asks like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Okay but- it’s weird!” Peter insists, even as he’s unbuckling himself out.

Tony makes a face, “So what? Everyone else looks like they’re having fun. It’s a Texas thing.” he grins and Peter can’t help but grin back, almost feeling like he wants to laugh. 

_Road trips_.

Peter takes photo after photo of the flowers at different angles, from up above and down below. He takes a few of Tony just staring at the sky when he wasn’t looking and then one where he notices and grins so goofily Peter’s heart just explodes with fondness. Tony flashes him his usual peace sign move and then Peter’s running to him, turning the camera into selfie mode and doing a ridiculous smile and then sticking out his tongue with a rock on sign as Tony flashes bunny ears behind his head. 

Tony takes the camera from him, gesturing for him to pose, “May’ll love this!” he calls, though Peter has the secret suspicion that he enjoys it more than he lets on.

When they’ve had their fill and the sun is getting too warm for their tastes, they buckle back into the car, Peter busy swiping through all the photos picking out the best ones. “You’re not bad Mr. Stark,” he grins salaciously, “you know, for an amateur.”

Tony flicks him in the ear as Peter laughs, “Excuse you. I’m an expert at everything I do.” 

“If you say sooo.” Peter sing songs, laughing again as Tony highers the music to drown him out. 

They’re two hours and a bit down when Peter’s stomach growls. Loudly. Sheepish, he curls inwardly on himself, trying to stifle the noise but as usual, Tony notices anything amiss about him. “I’m fine.” Peter rushes to say pre-emptively, “We don’t have to stop now.”

Tony gives him a flat stare, “Should I start pre-recording my lectures to save myself the energy or do you want to just quote what I say back to me?” 

Peter makes a face. 

Tony sighs.

“Peter, you have a ridiculously fast metabolism and if you don’t maintain your calorie intake, things could get bad. And when have I ever been the type to let bad things happen to you?” 

Peter doesn’t understand how he can feel both stupidly loved and also annoyed at being reprimanded all at the same time. He looks up at Tony and then pushes away the thought. That’s just the way it was when you were a kid. You appreciated the worry but thought it was overbearing nonetheless. 

_Parents_. 

Jeez.

“I just don’t wanna add more time to our trip, I already delayed us by forty minutes.”

“Peter, this is a road trip. You’re supposed to get delayed. That’s the whole fun of it!” Tony’s eyes flick to the signs, looking for a reasonable exit, “If we didn’t do something spontaneous then it was basically a waste.” he declares.

Peter can’t help but laugh a little, “You’re really serious about these road trip things huh?” 

Tony’s quiet for a second, before he almost softens, like a memory had just held him in a sweet embrace, “I’d been around the world traveling with my parents for all sorts of pretentious events and deal signings. Things I had to go to to help daddy dear sell the image of a picture perfect family man.” There’s a wry smile at his lips, but Peter doesn’t think it’s nostalgic.

“It’s the old cliché Pete. You can be in the fanciest place in the world and it won’t make you happy if you’re not making memories.” he shakes his head, “Or memories that matter anyway.” 

“One day, after I’d graduated from MIT with Rhodey, his family invited me up to their cottage to celebrate for the week. I asked them where the nearest airport was so I could fly in and they just laughed at me.” 

_Ah, there we go_, Peter thinks, a more familiar smile. The kind of smile that made him feel warm in his heart. 

“Rhodey’s mom took one look at me and said ‘young man, you better be at our house at seven a.m. or we’re gonna have you doing all the cooking when we get there.’” he laughs and Peter laughs along with him, “It was a ridiculous trip. The tire went flat half way through and Rhodey and I fought over how best to change it. Then we tried to go for a bathroom break but his mom refused to use a gas station so we spent forty-five minutes trying to find a McDonalds and don’t even get me started on the unpacking fiasco.” 

Tony sniffs, doing that nose scrunch thing he did when Peter knows he’s about to get real, “But when they fought they made up and when they made up they just made each other laugh and Rhodey still has the key-chain we bought from that weird antique store we found on the way and I’ve never forgotten how good those pancakes were when we found that little diner on the first exit we took on the way back home.” he shrugs, “I’ve liked road trips ever since.” 

“Planes’ll get you to where you need to go and they’ll be faster. But everything unexpected about a flight is just god-awful. At least our surprises can be fun.” 

Tony’s found an exit with a restaurant symbol, gliding off the highway. Peter straightens in his seat, on the look out for somewhere good to eat, his previous prejudice against the whole trip slowly thawing. “Okay, okay, so is where we’re eating another road trip surprise?”

Tony doesn’t answer him, just keeps driving down the little town road before he grins, “Bingo.” 

He pulls up into a swanky diner that looks straight out of the Cars movie, complete with the bright blue and red décor and checkered floors. “All you can eat breakfast is what makes the world go round.” Tony jokes and Peter’s stomach just grumbles in response.

The booths are worn, but still a bright red and there are little jukeboxes sitting on each table. “Oh my God.” Peter exclaims, reaching for his phone, “Mr. Stark do you have a quarter?” 

He curls his nose. “Who carries coins these days anyway?” 

Peter looks utterly crushed, “Noooo, Mr. Staaaark.” he whines, flashing his most pitiable face.

Tony rolls his eyes, sighs, then calls the waitress over, glancing at her name tag. “Hi Darla, how you doing?” 

“I’m doin’ great, what can I get you folks?”

Tony pulls out a twenty dollar bill, “Would you mind breaking this?”

Darla’s eyes flicker to Peter’s excited face and the jukebox and smiles, “I’ll be back in a jiff.” 

Two minutes later, Peter’s got What’s New Pussycat playing on repeat while Snapchatting his geek squad and Tony just wishes he was asleep somewhere far far away.

Peter of course, is living his best life. 

Darla returns to take their order and after some prodding and near threats, Peter finally orders everything he actually wants to satisfy his awesome hunger. “Mr. Stark are you _sure?_” he asks again.

Because he doesn’t _listen_. 

“Yes. God. I swear if you don’t order I’m gonna make them make one of everything whether there are onions in it or not.”

Horrified, Peter quickly changes his tune, “Is it okay if I get the strawberry waffles, chicken strips and uhh,” he looks up, “Mr. Stark said Texan chilli is really good, but I don’t know if I’m feeling beans right now.”

Darla looks absolutely offended, “Honey. Down here, we don’t put beans in our chilli and it’s the damn best thing you’ll ever eat. Trust me.” 

Tony’s doing his best to hide his laughter as he gives Peter a particularly amused look, “Well you gotta try it now kid. It’s a Texas thing.” 

Peter snorts, “Well I guess that’s our theme today huh?” he purses his lips and then snaps the menu shut, “Okay, one super awesome, totally authentic Texan chilli please!”

When the food all arrives, along with their two milkshakes and the entire coffee pot for Tony, Peter’s definitely not disappointed. “Thish ish sho good!!” he praises as he slurps down the chilli between bites of waffle- which is also the exact shape of the state- which for Peter, is the absolute funniest thing he’s ever seen. 

Tony looks torn between fascination and slight disbelief as he watches Peter scarf down everything in truly record speed. “It’s the magic of road trips kid. You’re forced to do something different.” 

Peter swallows, takes a big sip of his milkshake, “Okay. Fine. You win this one. But there’s still three more hours to go.”

The three hours go by pretty quick as they karaoke to Lady Gaga (though they will absolutely never ever admit it to anyone ever), have a quick, tiny, teensy-weensy heart to heart about teenage romance and girls (read: MJ), followed by another request to make his suit have an invisible stealth mode to which Tony ruthlessly and without hesitation rejects. 

When they arrive at their hotel, Tony all but gives away the contents of his wallet to the valet driver to get the Honda out of his face. They’ve just checked into their room (well- giant suite with two separate bedrooms inside it but whatever), when Tony catches sight of the gift shop and just loses it. 

Peter takes one look and already knows exactly what he’s thinking. One long dramatic sigh later- “We’re gonna _be_ the Texas way aren’t we?”

“You read my mind Pete.” 

The thing about Texas, is that they love their state just as much, if not more, than their country. Every single item in that shop either had their flag plastered all over it, a single lone star, or was the tackiest cowboy knockoff stuff Peter had ever seen. 

For some reason, Tony adores it.

“Pep hates it, but I have a soft spot for awful gift stores.” he says lovingly, stacking piles of awful clothing choices on his arm. 

Peter laughs, pulling out a particularly obnoxious T-shirt that said Y’ALL with the flag colours inside the text and cringes. Instead, he shrugs on another terrible- but lesser so- T-shirt with a picture of the Californian state with a crudely written welcome to Texas on it. He finds a cowboy hat, slipping it on and then adding a football varsity jacket into the ensemble. 

“Mr. Stark!” he calls, posing with his fingers on the hat rim, “Y’all want some fried chicken? Yeehaw par’ner.” he drawls in his best southern impression.

Tony’s eyes flash. “We’re buying it. Every last bit. Let’s go.” he says with zero hesitation, ushering him to the register as Peter laughs.

“No! It was for the meme!” he protests but even he knows he’s stopped struggling.

“Are you kidding? This is the best thing I’ve ever seen. Wait, hold this, let me take a photo.” Tony hands him a Texan flag and Peter wraps it around his shoulders like a cape, striking a ridiculous pose.

“The real Captain America.” he snickers, “Captain Tumbleweed.” 

“Rhodey’s gonna love this.” Tony grins, throwing on his own cowboy hat to take a picture alongside him. 

By the time they end up back in their hotel, they’re both grinning like idiots, still wearing their utterly cheesy cowboy hats with a pair of strap on spurs around Tony’s ankles just for kicks and two bags of absolute nonsense. Peter throws his own bags off his bed, star-fish flopping atop of it. He can hear Tony unpacking his suit for tomorrow and while Peter’s eyes feel droopy and his limbs ache for him to just rest, he pushes himself up to poke his head through Tony’s door.

“Hey Mr. Stark?” 

Tony glances up from where he’s picking between two sets of cuff-links. For some reason, Peter suddenly feels shy but pushes through it, knowing this isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time he looked at his mentor and felt such a deep-rooted appreciation it made him love Tony all the more.

“I uhh, I just wanted to say that I had a really good time today. On the road trip I mean.” he grins, eyes sparkling with the remnant silliness, “I never got to do a lot of family trips growing up, so this was really fun.” 

He catches the way Tony’s eyes widen just a fraction before he schools his expression back into his easy confidence. But Peter knows how much his words mean and his smile gets just that much fonder. “Told you road trips were great. Just wait till you and Ned can drive. Now _that’ll_ be a trip.” Tony teases.

“But I’m glad you had fun kid.” Tony gives him a soft look, “Now hurry up and knock out, we have a long day tomorrow and I’m _not_ giving you coffee.” 

Peter snorts, turning out the door, “Yeah that’s fair. Good night Mr. Stark.” 

He can hear the smile in Tony’s voice, “Night kid.” 

When Peter ducks under the covers, he pulls out his phone to send one last text to May before opening up his Instagram. He chooses the photo he took of him and Tony off the side of the highway where Tony’s giving him bunny ears not realizing Peter had snuck a flower into his hair. The caption comes easy. 

_Y’all yankees wouldn’t understand it. It’s a Texas thing._  
_#lonestar #yeehaw #thanksMr.Stark_


End file.
